Washboard.



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JAMES WILLIAM TATUM, OF DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA.

WASI-IB OARD Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1907.

Application filed April 2l, 1905. Serial No. 256,704..

To all whom it may concern:y

Bemit known that I, JAMES WILLIAM TATUM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Durham, in the county of Durham and State of North Carolina, have invented new and useful Improvements in Washboards, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in washboards.

Said invention has for its object to facilitate the rubbing or cleansing operation and to render the same effective and less arduous upon the washer, While the latter is guarded or protected from the splashing water, and the dirt and water from the clothes or fabrics are drained back into the tub as the rubbing s or Washing operation proceeds; also to provide for attaining these results in a simple, expeditious and effective manner.

Said invention consists of certain detailed structural features substantially as hereinafter fully disclosed and particularly specified.

In the accompanying drawing-Figure l is a view showing the preferred embodiment of my invention or washboard as applied to a tub for practical use. Fig.- 2 is a longitudinal section of the washboard. Fig. 3 is a bottom view looking upward.

In the carrying out of my invention, I form or construct the rubbing member or washboard proper l of two oppositely inclined corrugated lateral portions or wings l, la, with their lower meeting and suitably secured together edges forming the vertex of the approximate-V form which their union is thus caused to assume. Said lateral portions or Wings l, having their corrugations arranged in general right-angled lines to the direction of the rubbing action imparted to the fabrics, are suitably secured to the longitudinal bars of a frame 2. Said frame has its longitudinal or lateral bars extending a short distance beyond the relative upper end of the board proper 11, and united at their corresponding ends by the preferably edge- Wise-arranged cross piece 3 of said frame, the latter being effective to form a splash-board or guard, to protect the .Washer from the splashing water during the rubbing or cleansing operation. Also, it will be noted that the space 3 thus provided between the Washboard proper and saidlsplash-board is effective to receive the upper edge of the tub and thus avail for the retention of the washboard in position in the tub. Said opening also permits the water taken up with the fabrics, in the rubbing operation, to drain or pass rearward, therethrough, behind the washboard after utilization, back into the main portion of the water in the tub, consequently avoiding the immediate reusing of the same water over and over before replenishing, the advantages of which are obvious. Also it will be observed that the thus elevated water is prevented from accumulating at the upper or hea-d end of the washboard and thus rendered less liable to be splashed over the same, while obviating the washer contending with a surplus or unnecessary amount of water than required for actual cleansing purposes. The washboard proper, comprising the Wings la, has also secured thereto, upon the lower side near the extreme lower end, a transverse, preferably arcuate part 4, effective to brace said wings together. It is further noted that the relative arrangement of said wings or lateral portions in approximate V-form as aforesaid, provides for the conducting, by gravity of the dirt or sediment removed in the cleansing-operation, centrally down along the vertex of the V, thereby aiding, as is apparent, the more effective action of the water thus freed measurably of such sediment or dirt. Also, it is remarked that, by this form or construction of washboard, a relatively great number of clothes or articles may be operated upon or accommodated at one time in effecting the rubbing or cleansing thereof.

Other advantages of my washboard may develop in the practical use thereof which may not now bc apparent.

Latitude is allowed as to details herein as they may be changed as circumstances suggest without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim,

A washboaid having lateral uprights inclined in lines which, if extended, would meet at a point opposite the vertical longitudinal center of the washboard and having at their upper ends a forwardly extending horizontal guard-board adapted to overhang, and project considerably beyond the face of the eshboard, and a V-shaped rub` board having its correspondingly extended lateral portions secured to the forward surfaces of said lateral uprlghts and having its central tapered portion extended some distance back of a line drawn between, and touching the opposite rear edges of' said lateral uprights, said rubboard having its upper end arranged below and spaced ofi from the over-hanging und forwardly projecting guard-board to forni a drain-water passage, and having fixed to its lower side, near the extreme lower end, a transverse arcuate part Aeliective to brace said lateral portions together.

ln testimony whereof I aiix my signature, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES WILLIAM TATUM. Witnesses RUTH E. SMITH, W. B. GU'rLmin. 

